Hafermark Rumkugel

Rumkugel is one of traditional christmas cookies in Austria. This is my first try to make it. Very easy and very "lecker" :-)

Ingredients:

250 g ground oatmeal
140 g powder sugar
100 g butter (melted)
6 tbs cocoa powder
6 cl rhum
mini muffin backpaper

dried grated coconut or pearl sugar for garnish

Method:

Mix sugar and cocoa powder. Put the mixture to the warm melted butter. Stir well, add rhum and oatmeal. Knead with your hand, until you can form the mixture. Make small balls from the mixture and roll them in pearl sugar or dried grated coconut. Put each rumkugel in a mini muffin backpaper.

Christmas is here!

I don't have a passion of decorating cookies or tart. Honestly I don't think that I'm talented for that, although people say, it's just a matter of practice. I decided to make a little practice of cookies decoration at this christmas baking season..:-), although I'm a muslim, but baking christmas cookies is a kind of joy. These pictures are the result of my first practice, what do you thing?

This cookie is a "must" at chritsmas time in austria/german called "LEBKUCHEN", a very spice cookie with a flavour of cinnamon, clove, ginger and nutmeg.

LEBKUCHEN

Ingredients:
50 g maple syrup
75 g honey
100 g brown sugar
150 g butter
375 g flour
1/2 tsp natron (baking soda)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, ground gloves and cayenne

for garnish (optional): icing sugar, sugar pearl or your favorite cookies decoration

Method:

1. Place maple syrup, honig, sugar and 50ml water in a pan and bring to boil until the sugar melted. Then add butter and let it also melted. Cool the mixture a little bit.

2. Mix flour with baking soda and all spices. Knead the flour mixture with the above mentioned mixture. Wrap the doug with plastic wrap. Put in the refrigerator for a night.

3. Preheat the oven 180°C (use above and bottom heat). Roll the dough in about 4mm thick and form with different x-mas moulds.

4. Place formed Lebkuchen into a covered with parchment baking sheed and bake for about 15min. Cool on wire rack.

5. Decorate it with icing sugar and pearl sugar.

I wish you a merry x-mas

&

 happy new year 2012

Walnuts Cookies

Ingredients:
100 g chopped walnuts
150 g butter
1 egg
100 g powder sugar
1 tbs vanilla sugar
50 g ground almonds
200 g flour
75 g maizena (corn starch)
a pinch of baking powder
salt
some of a half of walnuts for garnish

Method:
1. Beat butter until tender, add egg, powder sugar, vanille sugar and ground almonds. Mix them well.
2. Mix flour, corn starch, baking powder and salt. Sift this mixture to the above dough. Knead the mixture well. Add chopped walnuts. Use your hand to knead the mixture.
3. Make from this dough rounded form cookies (as big as a walnuts), press in the middle and put a halve walnuts.
4. Bake in the preheated oven (160-180°C) about 20 min.

Poppy-Seed Muffin

Ingredients (making of 12 pieces):
175 g room temperature butter
175 g sugar
1 tbs vanille sugar
3 eggs
rind of 1 organic lemon
200 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
50 g poppy seed
50 g chopped almonds
3 tbs milk

Method:
1. Preheat oven 180°C. Beat butter, sugar and vanille sugar until creamy. Add eggs one after another, then rind of lemon. Mix in flour, bakingpowder, poppy seed and almond, add milk.
2. Cover each muffin mould with muffin baking paper. Fill 2 heaped teaspoon dough to each muffin mould.
3. Put the muffin tray in the middle of preheated oven, bake for about 20 minutes.

Pumpkin Cream Soup Austrian Style and Heart Locked Award

Hokkaido-Pumpkin

October is pumpkin season. I think everybody is familiar with pumpkin cream soup. I bet each of you have favorite recipe for that. Since I live in Austria, I'd like to introduce you the austrian style of pumpkin cream soup.

Austria is a small country in the middle of west europe and has nine states.One of it's state is Steiermark (in english Styria), locates in south of Austria. Styria is very famous with it's styrian pumpkin seed oil and stryrian roasted pumpkin seed.

And those two products make the special taste of this pumpkin cream soup.

Ingredients:
500 g pumpkin (for example Hokkaido)
1 onion, cut finely
2-3 cloves of garlic, cut finely
butter or oil
600 ml chicken or vegetable broth
150 ml cream/sour cream (optional)
freshly ground black pepper
salt, nutmeg and ginger 
styrian pumpkin oil and seed for garnish

 

Method:

Cut pumpkin in small cubes. Preheat the butter or oil in a stock pot. Chopped onion and garlic lightly sauté in that oil. Add pumpkin, shortly stir-fry together with onion and garlic. Put the broth, taste with salt, pepper, nutweg and ginger. Cook with low heat until the pumpkin soft. Add the cream, stir well. Blend the soup.   Garnish the soup with a few drops of pumpkin oil and some roasted pumpkin seed. Enjoy it with your favorite bread.

In this occasion I'd like to thank Tika Hapsari Nilmada of Cemplang Cemplung for giving me this Heart Locket Award. And now I have to find 7 wonderful blogs to pass this award to them. If you receive this award, please read the rules carefully:

1. If you get this award, pass it on to other 7 blogs
2. Put in the award picture in your post
3. Don't pass the award back to the award giver
4. Answer the questions below and post them in your blog:

1. What make you feel great about yourself?
2. Who inspires you most?

My answers:
1. I feel great about myself because I have a good heart, my friends say also that I'm a good listener. I would be thankful if someone reminds me, that I've made a mistake, will prompt beg of pardon and try not to make the same mistake again.
2. Living abroad is not easy sometimes.  My best friends Loana and Lily in my adopted hometown Salzburg are a great help. I thank them for their friendship.

And the Award goes to:

1. Susy Barat at Food et Photography
2. Sefa Firdaus at Negeri Dongeng
3. Dwiana Porter at dwidlebug
4. Susan at the well-seasoned-cook
5. Asrie at Food and Story
6. Elsye Suryanto at Sarang Japati
7. Ike Hermawan at Pawonike

For coffee and chocolate lovers: Mocca Brownies

I like collecting recipes from magazines, since I was a single young girl and lived together with my parents. When  I'm married and left my home country, I took this collection of course. This is not only a big help for me by cooking but also has a sweet memories. Everytime I leaf through this thick collection folder, I think of the time as I was a young girl..

One of the recipe I found in this folder is mocca brownies. I tried out this recipe as our espresso automatic machine broken and being repaired, so I had to buy instant espresso powder since my husband and I can't live without coffee. Meanwhile we have a new espresso machine and we are happy about it.

Ingredients:

120 g butter
170 g caster sugar (I used only 140 g)
3 eggs
30 g cooking chocolate
2 tbs instant espresso powder (for example nescafe)
70 g all purpose flour
1 tsp kahlua (coffee liquer) - optional

Method:

Preheat the oven 160°C. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add  eggs one at a time, beating  well. Let the chocolate melting in a bowl over pan of hot water. Remove from heat and allow melted chocolate to cool slightly. Sift flours and mix it with instant coffee. Pour it into the egg mixture, stirring well. Finally pour the melted chocolate into mexture. stirring well. Add Kahlua if you like. Place the mixtures in prepared brownies/cake pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes until cake firms to touch. Remove from oven and allow it to cool slightly. Cut in pieces and enjoy it with coffee or tea.

Black and White Wednesday

Window-Shoping in Stockholm (Sweden) on Sept 7th, 2011

Want to join this culinary event? click this site please for more info: http://thewellseasonedcook.blogspot.com/2011/07/black-and-white-wednesday-new-culinary.html

A warm drink to welcome autumn: Apfelstrudel im Glas

 

Last year I looked for a non-alcohol warm drink recipe and found this. Unfortunately I couldn't find the original recipe anymore (in german). This drink was good, that's why I want to share it with you now, since autumn is coming and it's good if you have something to warm you up beside electric heater..LOL

Ingredients (for 2 glasses):

400 ml natural apple juice (or better fresh apple juice)

1 tbsp cream curd

1 tbsp crème fraîche

2 tbsp raisins

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

a pinch of cinnamon powder for garnish

Method:

Put the apple juice, cream curd and crème fraîche in the mixer. Mix them well. Then warm it up.

Add the raisins and 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder. Stir well. Put the drink into 2 glasses, spread cinnamon powder as garnish, serve it immediately. 

Recipe in bahasa indonesia:

http://empui.multiply.com/recipes/item/21/Apfelstrudel_im_Glas

Viva bella Italia! Spaghetti con scampi

Yeah definitely, we love Italy! The cuisine, the landscape, the way of life, the climate etc. Here I don't want to talk a bad things about Italy.:-). We are lucky that we live on the border to Italy (about 350 Km from Salzburg to the border, Venice region). 

beautiful Venice view taken from the church tower

Venice was the first famous italian city I've visited. We didn't stay there, but in Jesolo and made an one-day-tour by ship to Venice. It was 2002. Since then, I fell in love with Italy. My husband has been an italian fan for years.  I had a chance to visit Caorle, Grado and Lago di Garda.

my husband and I, a nice memory in Venice

My last trip to Italy was on October 2010. I visited a friend who lives in Cagliari (the capital city of Sardinia). It was unforgetable trip. I love Italy more and more. I hope I have a chance to visit many regions: Rome, Milan and Toskana are still on my waiting lists.

 

beautiful sunset in Cagliari

Now, we come to the best part of italy and it's its cuisine. My husband and I love the lightness on italian cuisine and of course it brings us back to the memories we had during our trips in Italy. I bet you know a lot of italian foods and here I just want  to share one of our favorites recipes.

Spaghetti con scampi (Spaghetti with shrimps)

Ingredients (make 2 portions):

200 g spaghetti

150 g shrimps (peel, let the tail part, devein and wash)

150 g cocktail tomatoes (cut into halves)

4 cloves of garlic (peel and press)

3 stalks of parsley (cut finely the leaves)

3 stalks of basil (cut finely the leaves)

3 tbsp olive oil

black pepper and salt

making of spaghetti con scampi



Method:

1. Cook spaghetti al dente. Drain. Set aside.

2. Preheat the olive oil on the wok/deep fry pan. Stir the pressed garlic until fragrant. Add the deveined washed shrimps. Stir well until they turn its color. Add the tomatoes, cook about 1-2 minutes (until the tomatoes little bit wilt).

3. Add the cooked spaghetti. Taste it with freshly ground black pepper and salt. Stir well.

4. Turn off the stove. Put the parsley and basil. Stir all well. Serve it immediately.

If you like spicy, you can add chopped chili. Since my husband doesn't eat spicy lately, I always put some drops of chili oil to my spaghetti.

Buon Appetito & Ciao!!

Recipe in indonesian language:

http://empui.multiply.com/recipes/item/6/Spaghetti_with_shrimps

Budapest Trip: Goulash

During the easter holidays in this year Nina, a friend living in Sweden, visited me. We both went to Budapest by train, visiting my former co-worker. We had a great time as you can see on the picture below:

me, Nina and Riza acting as tourists..lol

Budapest was amazing! Beautiful and clean city, friendly people, not hectic like in west european countries.

beautiful view of Budapest taken from Citadella

As you may know, hungary is famous with its Goulash. I bought original hungarian dried paprika and paprika powder, as they are a kind of must have souvenir if you visit Hungary.

Nina is holding a paprika powder

dried paprika hanging in front of souvenir shop

My husband asked me to make goulash yesterday and gave me the recipe. As he was a student, he cooked goulash quite often and good. And I didn't know that it was so easy to make it and tastes fantastic!!

Ingredienst:

500 g beef (for stew), cut a little bit bigger than mouthpiece

500 g onions, peel and cut finely

1,5 tbs hungarian paprika powder (sweet tasted)

2 dried hungarian paprika (optional)

salt to taste

150 ml water

2 tbs olive oil

3 carrots (optional)

Method:

Preheat the olive oil in the deep fried pan, put chopped onions, stir and cook until tender. Add the meat. Stir and cook until the meat has different color.

Then add water, cook goulash with the low heat and covered.

It takes about an hour, but periodicaly stir the goulash. If the sauce getting thicker and the meat is tender, you can add carrots (cut into big cubes) a few minutes before you remove the pan from the stove.

Serve it with cooked rice, potatos or bread dumpling (like what the austrian people do).

 

It's better if you eat goulash in the next day and it tastes better if you warm it again and again in the next days.

Nostalgic: Bakwan Jagung (Fried Sweet Corn)

This snack reminds me of my childhood in Indonesia. My mom made it quite often and this is one of my favorite snacks.  I haven't made it for a long time since my husband and I avoid, as much as we can, fried things. But yesterday I couldn't resist to make Bakwan Jagung because I saw fresh sweet corn at the market and I want to get back to the time as I was a child and being spoiled by mom's culinary. I put keffir lime leaves as a friend suggested. And it turned very well. Damn, I have to do more exercises in the next days..LOL

Ingredients (make about 20 pcs):

6 fresh sweet corncob

1 small bundle of spring onion
1 small bundle of parsley
3 kaffir lime leaves
1 egg
100 ml broth, more or less ( I used homemade chicken broth)
150 g flour
deep-frying oil

Seasoning (pound all together until it turns to a paste):
5 garlic clove
3 big shallots or more if you have small indonesian shallots
2 candlenuts (indonesian kemiri)
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp koriander seed
salt
(don't worry, if you make too much paste, you can put the rest in the used jam glass and keep it in the fridge, it stays fresh for about 1-2 weeks)

Method:

Wash the corncobs. Let them drip. Take a bowl and shred them with a sharp knife.
After washing and dripping the parsley and spring onion, cut them finely. Do the same thing with the kaffir lime leaves. And mix them well with the corn.
Take 3 tsp of the seasoning paste, put to the corn, add the egg, mix well.
Add the flour and the broth, mix well. Taste it, if is necessary put more salt.
Preheat the deep-frying oil. Put each 1 tbs of the dough into the oil and deep fry it until golden brown. Enjoy it with a small green bird chili, if you like spicy of course..:-)

Apfeltaschen (Puff pastry filled with apple)

I always make this snack every time I need snack but I don't have time to bake something. That's why I always have ready to use puff pastry in my fridge.

Ingredients:

1 roll ready to use puff pastry (around 400 g)

1 big apple

2 tbs raisin

1 tbs bread crumbs

2 tbs sugar

a pinch of cinnamon powder

1 egg yolk

Method:

Preheat the oven (1170°C).

Peel and core the apple. Cut it into small pieces.

Take a bowl, mix well the apple with sugar, raisin, bread crumbs and cinnamon powder.

Unroll the puff pastry, cut into eight pieces. Fill them with the apple. Close them well (see above picture). Spread them with egg yolk. Bake for about 25 minutes untill turn to golden yellow.

Recipe in indonesian language:

http://empui.multiply.com/recipes/item/14/APFELTASCHEN_pastry_filled_w_apple

Couscous Salad

Some friends introduced me to couscous. I like its neutral taste and it give you an ability to be creative....:-). Yesterday I made this salad, my husband and I enjoyed it very much.

Ingredient:

200 g couscous
3 colour bell pepper (green, red and yellow), each of them just an half
3 or more pickled gherkin
1 bundle of chives
1 bundle of scallion (3-4 spring onion)
1 bundle of coriander
1 lime
3-4 Tbs olive oil
black pepper and salt to taste

Direction:

1. Bring 300ml water to boil. Switch off the stove. Add couscous to the water, stir it well until it cooked (you can put more hot water if necessary). Cool it down.
2. Preheat the oven (200°C). Put the bell pepper (the skin on top) into the baking tray (covered with baking paper). Bake the bell pepper until their skin starting to vesiculate. Take out from the oven. Cover the baking tray with a wet kitchen towel. Let it cool down. Then cut them into small cubes.
3. Chop the herbs (spring onion, chives and coriander) after you wash them of course..:-).
4. Cut the pickled gherkin into small cubes.

Finishing:
Mix couscous with bell pepper, pickled gherkin, chopped herbs and olive oil. Taste it with lime juice, salt and black pepper. You can eat this salad as main course or side dish.

Kräuter-Fritattensuppe (beef bouillon with strips of herb-pancake)

"Fritattensuppe" is a typical austrian soup. You find it easily in almost every restaurant in Austria. This is my favourite creation with herb.

Beef bouillon (clear soup)

Ingredient:

• 4 pounds lean beef from shank, diced
• 2 pounds beef bones
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 quarts cold water
• salt to taste
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup diced turnips
• 1/2 cup diced onions

Preparation:

Place beef, bones, and whole cloves in a large stockpot. Cover with the cold water. Slowly bring to a boil. Cover with a lid, lower heat, and simmer for 5 to 6 hours. Taste the broth and season with salt.

Add celery, carrots, turnips, and onions to the stockpot. Simmer 1 hour. Strain broth through cheesecloth into another stockpot. Discard solids. Simmer uncovered until broth has reduced to 6 cups. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. Skim off fat and discard.

Pancake with herbs

Ingredient

• 80 g flour
• 125 ml milk
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 tbs chopped herbs (parsley and chives)
• pinch of salt

Preparation:

1. Put the eggs, milk, herbs and salt  into a bowl and mix with a fork.
2. Add the flour by the spoonfull, coutinue mix with the fork until a fluffy mixed well dough formed.
3. Heat the oil or butter to a medium / high temperature in the frying pan. Pour in the dough and after 30 seconds or so mix the firming dough in the pan.
4. Cook each side until very light golden brown.
5. When cooked, gently slide the omelette out of the frying pan and cool it down. Do it with the rest of the dough.
6. Roll on the pancake und cut it into small strips (see above picture).

Serving:

Heat the bouillon. Put into 6 cup of soup. Add each cup with the pancake strips. Garnish with parsley or chives. Serve as it still hot.

Hot Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

1,2 kg chicken (breast and legs)

3 tomatoes, cut into small pieces

2 tsp black pepper 

4 cloves of garlic, mince

50 gr ginger, mince

3 bay leaves
3 stalks of parsley, mince the leaves.
3-4 tbs lemon juice
4-5 tbs peanuts oil

Method:

Wash up the chicken. Dab them dry. Peel away the skin (if it's necessary). Rub them with salt. Grind the black pepper coarsely by using mortar. Preheat the oil in the deep pan, add bay leaves and black pepper, fry them for about 1,5 minutes (continual turning). Then add chicken and garlic, fry them until fragrant. Add parsley, tomatoes and ginger. Stew all by middle heat (cover the pan) for about 15 - 20 minutes. Open the pan and let off the steam for a few minutes until the the sauce thicker. Taste it (if it's necessary, add salt) and add the lemon juice, stir them well. Serve them as still hot with safran rice.

Recipe in indonesian language: http://empui.multiply.com/recipes/item/29/Ayam_Pedas_Masak_Jahe_Gaya_India

Carrot Cake

I didn't like carrot cake, because it tasted strange for me. But I was curious and wanted to know the taste if I make it by myself. I started to google the recipes and tried them out. But it didn't turn well. Through trial and error, I could create this ingredients and this is for me the best carrot cake, I've ever eaten!..:-)

Ingredients:

5 eggs, separate white and yolk
300 g carrot, wash and rasp
250 g ground hazelnuts
50 g flour (mixed with the ground hazelnuts)

175 g caster sugar

1 tbs ground cinnamon
rhum (optional)

Method:

Beat the yolk and sugar until tender. Put a side. Whisk the white egg until stiff. Put the carrot, hazelnuts and flour alternately into the yolk sugar. Stir them well carefully with the cooking spoon or spatula. Finaly mix well the beaten white egg to the dough. Put the dough into the buttered baking mould. Bake it around 50 minutes by temperatur of 160°C.

Recipe in indonesian language:

http://empui.multiply.com/recipes/item/31/CARROT_CAKE